Voice traffic through a firewall

A method of limiting telephony data traffic to a single hole in a firewall comprising:

• creating a fixed destination port for telephony data traffic at a destination;
• opening a first hole in a firewall corresponding to the fixed destination port for telephony data traffic;
• creating a fixed destination port for call control traffic at the destination;
• opening a second hole in the firewall corresponding to the fixed destination port for call control traffic;
• receiving a plurality of media streams at the fixed destination port for telephony data traffic wherein the media streams originate from at least one source;
• commanding the source of each media stream to provide a unique identifier for each media stream arriving at the destination from each source wherein no two media streams arriving at the destination from the at least one source have identical identifiers;
• identifying each media stream by the unique identifier provided by the source of each media stream.

A method of communicating through only two holes in a firewall protecting a private branch exchange comprising:

• sending a media stream from a source private branch exchange through a first hole in a firewall at a fixed destination port for media streams at a destination private branch exchange;
• sending a first control stream from the source private branch exchange through a second hole in the firewall to a fixed destination port for control streams at the destination private branch exchange;
• sending a second media stream from the destination private branch exchange through a first hole in a firewall at the source private branch exchange to a fixed destination port for media streams at the source private branch exchange;
• sending a second control stream from the destination private branch exchange through a second hole in the firewall at the source private branch exchange to a fixed destination port for control streams at the source private branch exchange.

A method of communicating through only two holes in a firewall comprising:

• sending a plurality of media streams from a plurality of source private branch exchanges through a first hole in a firewall to a fixed destination port for media streams at a destination private branch exchange;
• sending a plurality of control streams from the plurality of source private branch exchanges through a second hole in the firewall to a fixed destination port for control streams at the destination private branch exchange;
• sending a plurality of media streams from the destination private branch exchange to a fixed destination port for media streams at each source private branch exchange;
• sending a plurality of control streams from the destination private branch exchange to a fixed destination port for control streams at each source private branch exchange.

A method of sending telephony traffic over Ethernet comprising:

• creating a fixed destination port for telephony data traffic at a plurality of destinations;
• creating a fixed destination port for call control traffic at a plurality of destinations;
• receiving at least one media stream at the fixed destination port for telephony data traffic at a first one of the plurality of destinations;
• receiving at least one media stream at the fixed destination port for telephony data traffic of a second one of the plurality of destinations;
• receiving at least one call control stream at the fixed destination port for call control traffic at a first one of the plurality of destinations;
• receiving at least one call control stream at the fixed destination port for call control traffic of a second one of the plurality of destinations;
• commanding the source of each media stream to provide a unique identifier for the media stream generated by the source to the destination the media stream is received by;
• and
• identifying each media stream by the unique identifier provided by the source wherein no two media streams arriving at any one destination have identical identifiers.

A system for sending and receiving communications through a firewall, comprising:

• a first plurality of handsets for initiating a communication;
• a second plurality of handsets for responding to a communication;
• a communications network for transporting communications;
• at least one first switch for directing a communication comprised of a plurality of media streams and control signals to at least one second switch wherein said at least one first switch is connected to said first plurality of handsets and said at least one second switch is connected to said second plurality of handsets, wherein said at least one second switch receives a plurality of packets relating to the plurality of media streams at a common destination port and separate the packets into individual media streams;
• and
• a firewall protecting access to said at least one second switch wherein said plurality of media streams are received through a first hole in said firewall.